August 2008

An update from the Huasteca Potosina e Hidalguense 

The village of Frijolillo where I live in the municipality of San Martin Chalchicuahutla, in the state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

Greetings to you all from my “upper room” in El Frijolillo! After a weekend fight against parasites and amoebas, I am enjoying a long overdue week of relative rest here at home. I am playing catch up with friends as well as completing paperwork, hauling water, doing laundry, and cleaning house. It is amazing how much one misses these daily “chores” when on the road so much of the time. The break is also appropriate after a week of endless minor “tragedies”: two days of mechanic visits with a break pad replacement, a twice flat tire, loss of three of five wheel studs, bus travel between the mechanic in San Felipe and Tamazunchale to get studs that would fit my American-built truck, and then the intense nausea, pain, and diarrhea that ultimately led me to miss the annual convention of the Presbytery Women this weekend. I am convinced that Moctezuma is dead and has no way of taking revenge upon foreigners bent on creating change in Mexico, but this past week was a reminder that I do have an enemy who is very much alive and is “roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it” seeking someone to devour (Job 1:7, 1 Peter 5:8). Apparently I am a worthy target. This is good news! But the other good news is that I was not devoured Thursday night, as I thought I might be. I am today alive and well. Thanks to the grace of God, your prayers, and miracle herbal cures. Maduro zapote (cacahuaxochitl in Náhuatl) has become my new best friend. I have no idea what it would be called in English, but it is a great cure for intestinal pain. Allow me to continue with an update on life and ministry in the Huastecas.

Young man abused, sold, enslaved, tempted, and jailed unjustly

Junior and senior high VBS class in Chapulhuacar. It has been a joy to help young people delve into the lives of the heroes of our faith and learn to apply lessons to their own journeys.

This young man’s name? Joseph … and Jesus Christ … and even you and I! This summer children from across our presbytery studied the life of Joseph and how that life was a prototype of the life of Christ and even our lives as believers today. Among the many lessons of Joseph’s life is that God fulfills His purposes in our lives (Psalm 138:8) as we submit to Him. Due to other commitments and presbytery activities, I am only teaching vacation Bible school (VBS) classes in two churches this year, in Chapulhuacanito and Macuilocatl. What a joy it has been thus far to help young people delve deep into the lives of the heroes of our faith and learn to apply lessons to their own journeys. Above all, the challenge to them is always to make their parents’ faith their own by making a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. 

Watch out! We’re taking over the Bible school and the presbytery

Assisting with VBS in five of our congregations were the presbytery’s three female Bible school students (Sareth, Carmela, and Abigail), who were home on summer break. What a gift they were to each of the congregations they visited! And how excited we are to know that in the next couple of years we will have three more colleagues who are desperately needed to do full-time ministry! Actually, we will have four new colleagues because Pastor Abel’s daughter, Madaí, will enter the Mexico City-based Bible School for Missionaries this year. It looks like half the students of the school will be from the Huastecas and when they graduate, women will comprise half of the ministerial personnel of the presbytery!

Fighting for a chance to be in the Father’s house.

Two weeks ago, a bi-national mission team from El Buen Pastor Presbyterian Church of Castaños, Coahuila, and Covenant Presbyterian church of San Antonio, Texas, visited the community of Tezapotla to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the children through a VBS program entitled, “My Father’s House.” A total of 35 children participated in the three-day program, which taught them about God’s houses: creation, our hearts, and heaven and encouraged the children to allow God to live in their hearts so they could be with Him in His house in heaven one day.

Among the children present where Angel and Efrain, brothers from a non-Christian family who were removed from the church each of the three days by either their mother who did not want her children being taught from “that book” (the Bible) or their older brother, Carmelo, who was sent on her behalf. The first two days the boys were taken from the sanctuary midst push-and-shove matches. On the third day, the mother found them in front of the building before we had even arrived. To our delight, the boys were able to attend the closing ceremonies the final night and Efrain received a prize for his attentive participation. Undoubtedly, God has placed hunger for Himself in their hearts, and we pray that the seeds planted by the team during VBS will bear fruit in time.

Why don’t you want a flush toilent in Frijolillo?

Oh what I would do for a latrine! Flush toilets are great in the city when you have a regular water supply, but they’re an inconvenience when you have to draw the water from a well, fill buckets, or three-gallon jugs, and then haul it up to your house on your head or back. For those of us in Barrio Arriba that means a “straight up,” 150-step hike. Bathing and washing clothes in the creek or with well water next to the creek is a joy for this missionary (easy for me to say since I am only washing my own clothes), and I am learning how to reuse water. But hauling water is just plain hard work, and it is something folks here in Frijolillo and around the world do every day. Mind you, your brothers and sister here don’t let me do much water hauling (I have to insist on carrying my own laundry!) and I have the benefit of a truck in which I can haul drums or jugs of water up the hill if need be, so my complaints are really on behalf of the millions and millions for whom this is a daily reality and those who voluntarily haul water for me (part of the challenging balance between serving and being served in ministry, doing for yourself or allowing others to help even when I may not really need it)! I am not the only one to be blessed and cursed with a flush toilet and no latrine. Pastor Abel and his family and my friends Moisés and Amalia and many others are part of our new “Where can I build my latrine” club.

So why are we hauling water? There are six wells in Frijolillo, but three of them are located along small creeks that only have water when rain is abundant. The second largest wells are located along the main creek, which is obviously down the mountain from where half of the population lives. The lower neighborhood has easy access to water, but it also has a mass of mosquitoes and muddy roads when it rains. Those of us in the upper neighborhood have fewer mosquitoes and nice clean rock roads when it rains, but we have to haul the water further. The real problem right now is the electric pump on the largest well, which is where the community draws water for in-home water service. If the power goes out, we don’t have water. Even if there is power, the pump is only turned on twice a week (to keep us from misuse). But, a month ago, the pump broke down (this has happened about four times in the year and a half I have been here). I guess the pump needs to be replaced (over 20 years old), but our community does not have favor with the mayor of the municipality because we did not support him in his election two years ago. So we are not sure when or even if we will get another pump. The news today was that a pump will come next week. This response was from a mayor who promised a paved road, materials for the roof of the new Sunday school classrooms of the Presbyterian Church, and a myriad of other things and has yet to come through. He keeps promising, saying “tomorrow,” “next week,” but tomorrow and next week never arrive. We are thus not holding our breath. The good news is that a son of the community runs a water pump sales and installation company in Mexico City, and he is to arrive sometime tonight to have a look at the situation. I even suggested to one of the deacons that the church had enough money to pay for a new pump. Maybe the church or churches in the community could pitch in if necessary for the good of the community (we are 95 percent of the community). We shall see. In the meanwhile, some of us will start the digging.

Watch out, here I come

Yes, I am planning a month-long visit to the United States, August 27-September 28, in order to visit family and friends, see my doctors (routine visits), and share what God is doing in our midst with supporters across the nation. I will include my itinerary here. I am also currently working on an itineration plan for next year which will take me to the southeast (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia) in March 2009 and a month of visitation in September 2009 as part of the denomination’s next “Mission Challenge.”

• August 27-28 - Monclova, Coahuila
• August 29 - San Antonio, Texas (doctors' visits)
• Aug 30-Sept 7 -Nebraska (Faithful Shepherd Presbyterian Church, Omaha; Southern Heights Presbyterian Church, Lincoln; Second Presbyterian Church, Hastings; First Presbyterian Church, Lexington; and time with family
• September 8-11 - Vacation with friends in North Carolina
• September 12-15 - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Rockford, Illinois
• September 16 - Nevada Presbytery
• September 17-18 - Covenant Presbyterian Church, Reno, Nevada
• September 19-21 - New Jersey (Hammonton and Presbyterian Church on the Hill, Ocean)
• September 22-28 - Texas (Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church, Austin; Covenant and First Presbyterian Church, San Antonio; Wimberley Presbyterian Church, doctors’ appts and visits with friends in Brackettville, Kerrville, Piedras Negras, and Nuevo Laredo.
• September 29 - Return to Frijolillo

As you can tell, the month is not “vacation,” but I am grateful that wherever I go, I am visiting the friends and family God has granted me over the years, so I look forward to each stage of the trip. I covet your prayers for my safety, my health, and for the message God would have me share along the way.

Prayer requests

Please support me and your brothers and sisters here with your prayer regarding the following:

• The unity of the body of Christ (there are four churches) in Frijolillo, as the healing of unhealthy divisions made over the last five or six years seems to be possible. Pray that the Lord’s Spirit would have His way in each heart, particularly in the hearts of church leaders.
• Efrain, Angel, and Carmelito of Tezapotla, that God would continue to foster their spiritual hunger and transform their parents’ hearts.
• My health. Though my bimonthly bouts are not out of the norm for the area, I do seem to have severe symptoms (probably related to my already sensitive GI tract). Pray that God would give me “intestines of steel” that can better withstand the menaces I face.
• That God would transform the leaders of our region, turning their eyes from their own desires to the needs of the people they were elected to serve. Pray especially for the mayors of Tamazunchale and San Martin Chalchicuautla. And pray that Frijolillo will be granted a new water pump for our main well so we have running water again!
• The Lord’s guidance, as I prepare to teach the last four sessions of my first year at the Bible Institute of the Huastecas. My students took their midterm exam in July, with grades representing the breadth of student capability but confirming that I need to evaluate how I teach so that student comprehension is maximized.
• My language learning. As I have always reported, I am learning slowly. I understand about 60 percent of what is said though context and Spanish interlocutions give me an advantage. Some days I am amazed at what I understand and what I can say, as the words and expressions do stick very quickly to my mind, but other days I am all too aware that my lack of fluency inhibits my relationships and the impact I would like to have. I feel I need two things: (1) time each day to work through the language studying workbooks I have and the personal dictionary I am forming and (2) more practice. I simply need to use everything I know so it comes more smoothly. But this takes courage and patience for both the speaker and my hearers.
• For God’s leadership of participants in next week’s presbytery meeting in Tezapotla.

In love and gratitude for each of you,

Susie

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 256